Sustainable Development in China’s Coastal Area: Based on the Driver-Pressure-State-Welfare-Response Framework and the Data Envelopment Analysis Model

The economic development of China’s coastal areas is being constrained by resources and the environment, with sustainable development being the key to solving these problems. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is widely used to assess sustainable development. However, indicators used in the DEA model are not selected in a scientific and comprehensive manner, which may lead to unrepresentative results. Here, we use the driver-pressure-state-welfare-response (DPSWR) framework to select more scientific and comprehensive indicators for a more accurate analysis of efficiency in China’s coastal area. The results show that the efficiencies of most provinces and cities in China’s coastal area have a stable trend. In the time dimension, efficiency was rising before 2008, after which it decreased. In the spatial dimension, China’s coastal provinces and cities are divided into three categories: high efficiency, low efficiency, and greater changes in efficiency. By combining DPSWR and DEA, we produce reliable values for measuring efficiency, with the benefit of avoiding the incomplete selection of DEA indicators